Jack Brady: Virginia Tarpon
Some of the best tarpon guides have some of the best accents. Capt. Jack Brady fits the bill, but he doesn't speak with the Caribbean patois or islander Spanglish that so many tarpon anglers are accustomed to. Capt. Brady has the distinct dialect of his native Eastern Shore community of Oyster, Virginia -- or arster, as he says -- where he's lived for over 80 years.
““If you see them rolling, there’s a good chance of hooking them. But when they disappear, you have no idea where they’re going. They’re like a ghost!””
Most anglers don’t associate the silver king with Virginia, which is understandable. The first tarpon caught in Virginia was bycatch from anglers going for red drum, and Capt. Brady stumbled across his first guiding for sharks.
But plenty of fish in the triple digits have been caught off the Eastern Shore since, and the habitat could easily be mistaken for parts of Florida. Take a boat east out of Oyster, and you’re greeted with nearly 10 miles of saltwater bays, creeks, and marshes that don’t stop until you hit Cobb, Wreck, or Hog Islands on the Atlantic. The islands once supported villages of waterman but today aren't home to much more than Nature Conservancy outposts and abandoned duck camps.
It was off Wreck Island that Capt. Brady caught his first tarpon, the same year that Hemmingway was fishing with Castro. Since then, he’s landed hundreds, and legend has it that he’s caught half of the silver kings ever brought to boat in Virginia.
Locals keep a close eye on Capt. Brady’s boat, but he says there are no secret spots anymore. The trick is patiently tracking them down and then staying stealth. "You can't get up on 'em and not spook 'em with an outboard," says Brady. "You need to pole up." The best time to catch the warm-water lover in Virginia is in the heat of summer, right up until “two northeast winds in September."
I was fortunate enough to catch up with Capt. Brady on a hot August afternoon right during prime time tarpon season. Because Brady's more skilled on the rod and reel than the interwebs, the pics below are borrowed from the Barrier Islands Center. Below are my questions in bold, followed by his answers.
How did you get into targeting tarpon?
I caught my first one 60 years ago. I had some boys down from Annapolis, Maryland, in 1960 or 1962. They wanted to go to Wreck Island on the edge of the ocean and catch big sharks.
The first guy hooks a tarpon, and he broke his line. The next guy casts out, and he hooked a tarpon and broke his line. Well I don’t have anything but five-and-dime tackle, but I know I'm not going to break a line! I had a 16-foot cane poll -- I didn't have nothing fancy, I'm an ole poor boy! I caught a tarpon that day that weighed 85 and three-quarters pounds. And I even had a Penn squidder reel on!
That's amazing! When are tarpon here in Virginia?
Over here on the seaside, they get here in June, and stay until two northeast winds come in September. After that you might see them, but not many after two northeast winds in September. They come all the way up from Florida, and then go back to Florida in the fall.
Is there a "peak" season?
The bite can be good whenever they turn on. All you can tell a man is, 'You're gonna see some!'
How big do they get in Virginia?
I had a boy up here from Hampton -- it was 6-7 years ago -- we were up in Manchipango in a channel called Sunday's Ditch. He caught a tarpon -- I knew it was over 200 pounds. It was 6 foot, 9 inches, and had 44-inch girth.
It stayed by the boat for 45 minutes and never jumped, and then for whatever reason, it decided to run. It went way across the channel and into a marsh. We had to start gunning around! I said, "Get moving, it's going over by the oyster bed and is going to cut the line!" We chased it for 2 hours and 25 minutes. Charles Johnson and Barry Truitt [who holds the record for the largest Virginia tarpon] were both out there and both pulled in their lines and got out of the way for us.
We finally caught it and brought in into the boat, and it was 6 foot, 9 inches -- and then we let it go over the side.
Do you fish mainly the seaside, or are there fish in the bayside too?
I'm here on the seaside in Oyster, right by the Nature Conservancy. They catch a few over there now and then but they don't have them like we have them.
Jack Brady with a large red drum
What's the ideal habitat for a tarpon?
I fish for mine in little teeny channel. I know just about everywhere that they go, I've been doing it so long. The crab potters tell me when they see them and no one else.
It's sort of a trade secret?
Not so much any more, it's not a secret. They run in the wide open when someone comes in and spooks them. When they leave they run wide.
If you have 5-6 people fishing, and one starts his motor and goes through the open, they don't like that. They spook easy.
Last Friday, it was the wrong tide, so I took this boy up on the flat, and we saw three. I told him you can't get up on 'em and not spook 'em with an outboard. I was in a 24-foot Dusky, and you need to pole up.
How do you target them?
Croaker. When I caught my first tarpon, I used to go up in a place called Cedar Creek, and you could catch seven or eight a day. You put the baitfish on and before the line was sideways, you would have a tarpon. You could catch one everyday if you wanted to.
But there's not as many as there used to be. I think there's some over on the edge of the ocean where the water is cool. Some boys have been gill-netting sharks, and one boy told me that they got tarpon in there too.
You mentioned the ideal tide. What are the best conditions?
They usually bite in the last two hours of an outgoing and the last two hours of an incoming. If you see them rolling, there's a good chance of hooking them. But when they disappear, you have no idea where they're going. They're like a ghost!
